Archive for the ‘Health Products’ Category
Want Drugs in a Flu Pandemic? Reserve Them Now, Cheap!
Written by admin on June 28, 2008 – 12:42 am -
At Health Blog HQ, we can’t even get a burrito for six bucks. But that’s all it will cost to supposedly guarantee a supply of Roche’s drug Tamiflu if the next big flu pandemic breaks out.
The fortunes of the drug have risen and fallen lately on fears of a global flu pandemic. A while back, when worries about the H5N1 strain of bird flu were running high, Roche cranked up production of the antiflu drug.
But now that worries have subsided, demand has fallen. World-wide sales for the quarter ended in March were down 64% from the year-earlier period, to 278 million Swiss francs ($269 million), the WSJ reports.
So, in a move that could generate a bit more revenue off the drug, the company said yesterday that companies can reserve a supply of Tamiflu for $6 per worker per year. The notion is a sort of virtual stockpile: Buying in to the program guarantees you a shipment of the drug on two days’ notice.
Of course, companies will still have to pay for the drug itself if and when they want it. It currently wholesales for about $75 per 10-capsule pack, and retails for about $82, the WSJ says.
Anheuser-Busch to Stop Selling Energy Drinks
Written by admin on June 28, 2008 – 12:13 am -
The main event out in St. Louis is Anheuser-Busch’s efforts to fend off a buyout by InBev. But an item on the undercard caught our eye.
Eleven state attorneys general said yesterday that they had convinced Anheuser to stop selling its caffeinated alcoholic drinks, the WSJ reports.
The AGs alleged, among other things, that the company had failed to adequately disclose negative health effects of Tilt and Bud Extra on the drinks’ labels. The company agreed to reformulate the beverages, to remove the caffeine and other stimulants.
Loyal Health Blog readers will recall that a study by an ER doc from Wake Forest University found that college students who drink caffeinated alcoholic beverages are more likely to get injured than college students who, in a nod to tradition, take their alcohol without caffeine.
At the time, the doc told us that drinking caffeine with alcohol is “like stepping on the gas pedal and the brake pedal of a car at the same time.”
The AGs are also investigating Miller Brewing, for its Sparks drinks. The company told the WSJ that it’s cooperating with the investigation and continuing to sell the drinks.